Tag: Marina Rodriguez

Spinning Back Clique REPLAY: Everything UFC 300 – Pereira vs. Hill, BMF title fight, Harrison’s debut, more

On this week’s episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” the panel discusses everything UFC 300.

Check out this week’s special edition of “Spinning Back Clique,” where we’ll be breaking down everything UFC 300.

This week’s panel will be composed of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura, and host “Gorgeous” George Garcia – along with appearances from Matt Wells, Mike Bohn, Farah Hannoun, Dan Tom, and Nolan King.

For this Monday’s special episode, the panel discussed:

  • The pair of undisputed UFC championship fights headlining UFC 300. In the main event, [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] makes his first light heavyweight title defense against former champion  [autotag]Jamahal Hill[/autotag], who returns from injury. In the co-main event, [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] takes on fellow Chinese fighter [autotag]Yan Xiaonan[/autotag] in a women’s strawweight bout.
  • The first-ever Baddest Motherf*cker title defense, as BMF champion [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] welcomes back [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] to the lightweight division. Other key lightweight bouts go down, including [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag], [autotag]Jalin Turner[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Renato Moicano[/autotag], [autotag]Jim Miller[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag].
  • Highly-touted undefeated middleweight prospect [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag]’s return to action. He takes on Cody Brundage in the opening bout of the pay-per-view main card. This will be Nickal’s third fight under the UFC banner.
  • Two-time PFL champion and two-time Judo Olympic gold medalist [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] makes her highly awaited UFC debut. She takes on former champion [autotag]Holly Holm[/autotag] at bantamweight – a division Harrison will be debuting in. Harrison has previously fought at 155 and 145 pounds.
  • Former UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] has moved up to featherweight. Veteran contender [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] welcomes him to the division.
  • To cap off the show, the panel will do a quick promo breakdown to hype up the four remaining bouts of the UFC 300 card. This includes [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Aleksandar Rakic[/autotag], [autotag]Sodiq Yusuff[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag], [autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag], and [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Cody Garbrandt[/autotag].

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC, PFL, Bellator fights announced in the past week (Jan. 22-28)

Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC, PFL, and Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Jan. 22-28.

Jessica Andrade vs. Marina Rodriguez booked for UFC 300

A strawweight matchup pitting ex-champ Jessica Andrade and Marina Rodriguez has been added to UFC 300 in Las Vegas.

[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] has booked her first fight of 2024.

The former UFC strawweight champion is scheduled to take on top contender [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] on April 13 at UFC 300 in Las Vegas. The bout will be contested at 115 pounds.

The UFC announced the matchup Friday afternoon.

This marks Andrade’s first fight bout of the year after a busy 2023 in which she fought five times, going 2-3. She last competed in November at UFC 295 where she stopped Mackenzie Dern in the second round. She won a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for her knockout. Prior to that, Andrade (25-12 MMA, 16-10 UFC) had consecutive losses to Tatiana Suarez, Yan Xiaonan and Erin Blanchfield.

Rodriguez (17-3-2 MMA, 7-3-2 UFC) looks to build off her TKO win over Michelle Waterson-Gomez back in September. The win snapped a two-fight losing streak for the Brazilian.

Below is the latest UFC 300 lineup:

  • Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway
  • Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan
  • Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan
  • Kayla Harrison vs. Holly Holm
  • Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic
  • Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling
  • Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt
  • Bobby Green vs. Jim Miller
  • Cody Brundage vs. Bo Nickal
  • Diego Lopes vs. Sodiq Yusuff
  • Jessica Andrade vs. Marina Rodriguez

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.

UFC Fight Night 228 post-event facts: Michelle Waterson-Gomez TKO’d after 14 years

Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 228, including the end of Michelle Waterson-Gomez’s more than 14-year run without a TKO loss.

The UFC put a bow on its September schedule and a run of 17 straight weeks of events on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 228, which took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

After a card with a handful of highlights, the lightweight main event ended in disappointing fashion when Rafael Fiziev (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) suffered a knee injury that ended the fight prematurely, giving Mateusz Gamrot (23-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) the TKO victory.

For more on the numbers from the card, check out MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 228.

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UFC Fight Night 228 winner Marina Rodriguez wants Tatiana Suarez: ‘I deserve that fight’

Marina Rodriguez thinks Tatiana Suarez’s path to the UFC strawweight title needs go through her.

[autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Tatiana Suarez[/autotag]’s path to the UFC strawweight title needs go through her.

After delivering a statement performance in a bloody second-round TKO of Michelle Waterson-Gomez at UFC Fight Night 228 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Rodriguez (18-3-2 MMA, 7-3-2 UFC) made it clear she wants a matchup with undefeated contender Suarez (10-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC).

Although many believe Suarez is already worthy of challenging current 115-pound champion Zhang Weili, the Brazilian is not part of that group, and said a title eliminator between them is the way to go.

“I just feel I have some shots to shoot,” Rodriguez told MMA Junkie and other outlets through an interpreter at the UFC Fight Night 228 post-fight news conference. “Because I need to hit bullseye. I really need to get some fights that will actually position me to put me and reroute me towards the championship. … She is undefeated. Stopped fighting for a while, comes back still undefeated. So I do feel like I deserve that fight and it should happen.”

At 36, Rodriguez is likely entering the point in her career where she needs to make something happen now if she hopes to make her title aspirations come true. She entered UFC Fight Night 228 with back-to-back losses vs. Virna Jandiroba and Amanda Lemos, and she needed to do something to draw attention back on her side.

After beating Waterson-Gomez by unanimous decision in their first meeting in May 2021, Rodriguez delivered on her promise to make things more emphatic in the rematch, and now she’s looking upward.

“I am this athlete who is always going to push forward, always go for the finish, always want to be a champion,” Rodriguez said. “Since the day I started here, to continue to go on, to continue to be aggressive and push forward to actually go out there and look for that title.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 228.

UFC Fight Night 228 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Tim Means’ $21,000 leads card

UFC Fight Night 228 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 228 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $164,500.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC Fight Night 228 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 228 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

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[autotag]Mateusz Gamrot[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Rafael Fiziev[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Bryce Mitchell[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Michelle Waterson-Gomez[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Bryan Battle[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]A.J. Fletcher[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Charles Jourdain[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Ricardo Ramos[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Miles Johns[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Tim Means[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Andre Fialho[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Cody Brundage[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jacob Malkoun[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Mohammed Usman[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jake Collier[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Mizuki Inoue[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Hannah Goldy[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Montserrat Rendon[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Tamires Vidal[/autotag]: $4,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2281 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $6,294,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $20,883,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 228.

UFC Fight Night 228 video: Marina Rodriguez TKOs bloody Michelle Waterson-Gomez, calls out Tatiana Suarez

Marina Rodriguez made Michelle Waterson-Gomez spill lots of blood then called out Tatiana Suarez at UFC Fight Night 228.

[autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] promised to make her rematch with Michelle Waterson-Gomez even more definitive than the first fight, and she absolutely did that at UFC Fight Night 228.

Rodriguez (17-3-2 MMA, 7-3-2 UFC) was nothing short of dominant in handing Waterson-Gomez (18-11 MMA, 6-7 UFC) her fourth consecutive defeat, scoring a TKO at the 2:42 mark of Round 2 in the strawweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The fight was a rematch of the their May 2021 main event, which Rodriguez won by unanimous decision.

Check out the replay of the finish below (via X):

Waterson-Gomez and Rodriguez clashed into a grappling exchanging the opening moments and it let to top control for Waterson-Gomez for nearly two minutes. When Rodriguez got up, she peppered her opponent with knees. Rodriguez then took all the momentum, brutalizing Waterson-Gomez with elbows, punches, knees and kicks and doing a done of facial damage.

Covered in blood, Waterson-Gomez made it to the second round, but her odds of a comeback had already expired. Rodriguez continued to pour on the offense, forcing Waterson-Gomez into a sloppy takedown attempt that Rodriguez countered into mount. She postured up and threw a flurry that forced the referee to step in.

After the fight, an elated Rodriguez called out undefeated fellow contender Tatiana Suarez.

“I’m back, and I go onto the title shot soon,” Rodriguez said in her post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “I think it’s time. I’ve been undefeated for a long time and I would love to call out Tatiana Suarez. .. I think she still needs some fights before a title shot, like I did.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 228 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 228.

UFC Fight Night 228 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC Fight Night 228 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.

LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 228 took place Saturday with 11 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from the UFC Apex.

You can hear from all the UFC Fight Night 228 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 228.

UFC Fight Night 228: Marina Rodriguez vs. Michelle Waterson-Gomez odds, picks and predictions

Analyzing Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 228 odds between Marina Rodriguez and Michelle Waterson-Gomez, with MMA picks and predictions.

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In a 3-round women’s strawweight bout on the main card, Marina Rodriguez and Michelle Waterson-Gomez meet Saturday at UFC Fight Night 228 — also known as UFC Vegas 79 — at UFC Apex. Let’s analyze FanDuel Sportsbook’s around the UFC Fight Night 228: Rodriguez vs. Waterson-Gomez odds, and make our expert picks and predictions.

The prelims can be viewed on ESPN+ starting at 4 p.m. ET with the main card following on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET.

Records: Rodriguez (16-3-2) | Waterson-Gomez (18-11-0)

Rodriguez has dropped the past 2 fights, falling to Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision at UFC 288 in May, while falling via KO/TKO in the 3rd round against Amanda Lemos in November 2022. The Brazilian fighter had won 4 straight fights prior to those setbacks, including 3 decision victories. Since arriving at the UFC level, Rodriguez has gone the distance in 9 of 11 fights.

Waterson-Gomez, a.k.a. “The Karate Hottie”, has dropped 3 straight fights, and 5 of the past 6 bouts. That includes a split-decision loss to Luana Pinheiro at UFC 287 in April in her return after having a child, as well as a submission loss to Lemos in July 2022.

Rodriguez has a 3-inch reach advantage and holds a 4.58-to-3.63 significant strikes landed per minute edge. If Waterson-Gomez has any advantage in this fight, it’s on the canvas. She has a 1.40 takedown average, and a 0.70 submission average, to just 0.17 in both categories for Rodriguez.

Watch  this card with ESPN+ by signing up here.

UFC Fight Night 228: Marina Rodriguez vs. Michelle Waterson-Gomez odds

Provided by FanDuel Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 9:07 a.m. ET.

  • Fight result (2-way line): Rodriguez -320 (bet $320 to win $100) | Waterson-Gomez +260 (bet $100 to win $260)
  • Over/Under: 2.5 rounds (Over -380 | Under +270)
  • Will the fight go the distance? (Yes -310 | No +225)

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UFC Fight Night 228: Marina Rodriguez vs. Michelle Waterson-Gomez picks and predictions

Fight result (2-way line or moneyline)

Rodriguez (-320) will cost you more than 3 times your potential return, and that’s way too much risk for not enough return. Instead, you must get a little more specific.

Waterson-Gomez (+260) is skidding, with 3 straight setbacks, and losses in 5 of the past 6 fights. However, she makes the opposition work, regardless of the result, going the distance in 9 of the past 10 fights dating back to Dec. 2, 2017.

As such, playing METHOD OF VICTORY: RODRIGUEZ BY POINTS (-155) is not priced out of line. Both of these fighters tend to let the judges hash out the winner, and Rodriguez should do enough to wow them to get her arm raised.

Over/Under (O/U)

Over 2.5 Rounds (-380) and Yes: Will the fight go the distance (-310) are both way too expensive. Each of these fighters has had very few finishes in their UFC careers, and both of these props should be avoided. Focus on the method of victory instead.

AVOID.

Visit MMA Junkie for more fight news and analysis.

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For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.

Follow Kevin J. Erickson on Twitter/X. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter/X and us on Facebook.

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Marina Rodriguez still aiming to fight for UFC strawweight title: ‘That’s why we’re here’

Marina Rodriguez is determined to fight for the UFC title.

LA VEGAS – Despite being on her worst career run, [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] is not ready to forget about the UFC title.

The strawweight fighter is determined to break her two-fight losing streak at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 228 and make another run for the belt. Rodriguez (16-3-2 MMA, 6-3-2 UFC) takes on former Invicta FC champion Michelle Waterson-Gomez (18-11 MMA, 6-7 UFC) in a rematch on the main card of the event.

Rodriguez, 36, feels another win against Waterson-Gomez could get her back in title contention.

“The UFC title never left my head,” Rodriguez told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s media day. “There’s a reason why I’m here. I’m not here just to fight. I’m not here just for the money. The reason why I continue to do this is to be a champion. That’s why we’re here and that’s why we’re in this fight. We’re here, so we can get talked about again and considered at having a chance at the title.”

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Prior to the defeats to Virna Jandiroba and Amanda Lemos, Rodriguez was on a four-fight winning streak and knocking on the door of a title shot. That run included the victory over Waterson-Gomez, which came in May 2021.

Other than a sense of urgency to get a victory, Rodriguez doesn’t think much else has changed between her and her upcoming opponent.

“The fight is the same in the sense that the two fighters are the same, but different because both really want to win,” Rodriguez said. “I think that both are going to need this win right now coming off defeats. The one that has the bigger will to win, the one that wants it more, is going to come out on top with the win.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 228.